CCS Cost Reduction Task Force

The Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Cost Reduction Task Force was set up in spring 2012 to advise the government and industry on the steps needed to reduce the cost of CCS, so that it could compete with other low carbon technologies in the 2020s. The CCS Cost Reduction Task Force published their final report in May 2013.

Contents

Role of the group

The Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Cost Reduction Task Force was an industry-led joint task force established by government to assist with the challenge of making CCS commercially available for operation by the early 2020s.

The objective of the Task Force was to publish a report to advise government and industry on reducing the cost of CCS so that projects would be financeable and competitive with other low carbon technologies in the early 2020s.

Reports

Update on CCS and response to the recommendations

On the 16 October 2013 the government published an update on CCS and response to the recommendations of the Cost Reduction Task Force:

The document provides an update on some key policy developments since publication of the UK’s CCS Roadmap in 2012 and responds to the major recommendations from Task Force’s final report.

The document is focussed on the wider development of CCS, beyond the competition, and sets out a vision for CCS deployment which we would like to develop further with industry. We envisage there could be three phases of development in the UK with the Competition representing the first phase. We also set out further information on the actions we are taking to build the wider industry for example through EMR, through investigating the potential for enhanced oil recovery, or through ensuring the infrastructure that is laid down as part of the Competition brings the greatest benefit to the wider development of CCS.

The report also notes that we have asked Michael Gibbons OBE to represent industry as co-chair in a reinvigorated CCS Development Forum.

Final report

On the 16 May 2013 the CCS Cost Reduction Task Force published their final report:

Building on the interim report, the final report presents to Government and industry the Task Force’s recommendations on how to achieve cost reductions and develop the CCS industry in the UK. The recommended actions cover the breadth of the CCS chain from generation and capture to transport and storage. Actions on policy development, finance and industrial CCS are also included.

The report also suggests the creation of three national groups to take forward the actions in the areas of Storage Development, Commercial Development and Knowledge Transfer. We welcome the initiative shown by industry in taking forward groups to address some of the key issues and will participate in these. We will respond on the actions recommended for Government in the summer.

Energy Minister Michael Fallon said:

“I welcome this timely report. We are one of the world leaders for Carbon Capture and Storage and our £1bn competition to kick-start a cost competitive industry in the UK is making good progress.

“The CCS Cost Reduction Task Force identifies the key areas that need to be addressed to drive down the costs of the technology and enable commercial deployment in the 2020s. We will be responding in detail to the report’s recommendations shortly. We are committed to working with industry so that CCS can realise its potential and compete on cost with other low carbon technologies without capital support from Government.”

Interim report

The CCS Cost Reduction Task Force published an interim report ‘The potential for reducing the costs of CCS in the UK’ on 21 November 2012. This report confirmed that fossil fuel power generation with carbon capture and storage (CCS) has the potential to compete cost effectively with other low-carbon forms of energy in the 2020s.

Membership

The task force was chaired by Dr Jeff Chapman, the then Chief Executive of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association (the body which represents the UK’s CCS industry). It brought together practical experience from industry and academics to look at opportunities for cutting costs right across the CCS chain (capture, transport and storage).

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